Social media

It all started for me with, friendster then myspace came along…the first real social website for mass usage. Now there is Facebook and Twitter with hundreds of smaller more focused group pages on the run behind them. Social media picture sharing pages abound as well. Now I see video sharing pages which are cell phone, laptop, netbook and desktop friendly. In a nutshell we are connected. How much connectivity can we stand though?
 The hot topic today was the slow ebbing of users actually using MySpace. The original sharing page is now bloated and slow, with dishonest clowns running amok through it’s pages. Great for kids, they can design elaborate pages without too much effort. However who really cares what someone else listens to on their audio radio like player. It all seems to run together there without too much change from page to page.

 The numbers are dwindling as we move to the more robust and honest Facebook and Twitter. There will be other changes and splinter pages popping up as it goes. Are we ready for this uprising in social media? I am. I won’t give up my old ones until they are just so non used that it is a waste to even visit them. My only complaint is that with each new media darling I need all new usernames and passwords. Changing them for each page is a smart move and hence I have a stellar list of clever names and keys to those landing pages. I foresee needing more for the upcoming changes and i will persist in thinking them up. At least until it is no longer viable to be a member of them, one by one. That may take a while.

cheers

Is PETA killing animals???

How effective are the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals? Although the charity grabs headlines for its celebrities-in-the-buff advertisements, it was reported that last year 96 percent of the animals taken to the Virginia headquarters were euthanized. Although some of the pets were in extremely poor health, “unsocialized,” or aggressive, adoptable animals that were not able to find homes were among the 2,124 put to sleep. Only seven were placed in homes. “We are doing the dirty work that others won’t,” said the vice president for cruelty investigations. “We are proud to be a shelter of last resort that takes in old broken animals and gives them a humane end.” The group has a $32 million annual budget—most of which funds its high-profile campaigns against the meat and fur industries.

Read it at The Sunday Telegraph

This is a scary thought

We cannot and have rarely ever been able to keep the illegals from getting across the border. What really makes us think we can keep out illegals with guns.

 Consider this scenario: Illegals armed on our side, drug dealers armed on their side. Both storm the borders, cutting off any chance of stopping the ARMIES they have amassed due to the violent nature of their country. killing all of the border guards would be a piece of cake.(we don’t allow them to fight back) Sure we can send troops down there to try and quell this mess and stop the surge. However our enemy are a slippery bunch and considering the fail their government has had, I think we’d be mowed down in a short time. I thought of this scenario, what is stopping them from thinking about it too? Do you really think we could stop this if it happened?

Well half is better than none?????

I personally think we, the American people should get the list of names of these bastards at AIG that got these “retention” bonuses and make an effort over the next ten years that they live under pressure each and every day. It is our money which should be smarting us right now about tax time. These guys are spending that money, Vegas parties or no Vegas parties they are spending OUR money.

However, some are giving back, some of the ill-gotten loot they received under the Barry the stoner administration…under duress of course,BTW some means maybe half. (I’d take a half a million for doing a lackluster job)

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AIG_OUTRAGE?SITE=NVLAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-03-18-16-16-15

This administration swore (during the courtship)no more secrecy, pork etc. it seems they are damned liars and cheats. While we stress to pay our bills and mortgages these clowns are handing out cash bonuses to the self same jerks that made our lives this miserable. They should ALL be bitch slapped and made to give back the toys(cash) they stole. Barry should come clean and he and Rahm should start playing fair with the rest of us kids on the playground. Full disclosure about contributions and gifts should be forthcoming from them.  That’s all I gotta say right now.

Yeah he gets munchies too!

Subway Stands by Phelps
Sandwich Chain Likely to Delay TV Campaign Starring
Olympian

Feb. 6, 2009

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Subway has decided
to stand by its man despite his bong antics, but the nation’s largest fast-food
chain is likely to backburner its first TV campaign starring mega-endorser and
Olympian Michael Phelps.

“Like most Americans, and like Michael Phelps
himself, we were disappointed in his behavior,” Subway said in a statement.
“Also like most Americans, we accept his apology. Moving forward, he remains in
our plans.”

Of course when he does get munchies where else would they like him to go, hee-hee-hee!!!!!

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Racism

I for one am damned tired of hearing about every “first” black whatever. I feel it is just racist to say this for emphasis. Why can’t it just be the appointment to attorney general, the president, the etc. It just seems as if we are experiencing a sort of racist attitude as things seemingly are going forward. Don’t set us back to the sixties with such racist statements and attitudes. The president is our AMERICAN president, not our African American president. The attorney general is OUR attorney general. Stop the racist attitudes and let’s get our great country back on track with equality and teamwork. Martin Luther King surely never envisioned this type of a world but a world where we worked side by side blind to race, creed or gender. Follow the man who dreamed of these days. Get it right and stop the bullshit.

alright already

Let’s get down to business America. It doesn’t matter how black Obama is or how he connects with  the common man. Barack Obama is our president now. The pomp is over and the circumstance shall begin. Every American, no matter your social standing, should take up a bit of the cause. Clean up the area you are in, taking pride in what you might have.  begin to think about thriving with less and being thankful for that. Start planning to be in a better place by next year. Look we all pissed and moaned that dubya was fucking everything up. Now we need to get behind this president and show him that we are willing to help if even in the smallest way. So hitch up your boots and wade out into the service area and give of yourself to make all the wishes we might have to come true. Barack Obama and the government machine cannot do it all alone. It needs our help.

cheers,

D

HP pays these clowns with real dollars?

I have an older HP printer.

This is actually a printer that the GREAT customer service personnel say they don’t offer help with any longer. My problem was paper not feeding into the printer.

After three emails to these geniuses I thought how about if I just clean the rubber rollers inside.

Online HP swears that this is a high tech job to be tackled only by authorized personnel. One q-tip and three drops of distilled water and I am on the road again. I will search for the best customer service for printers and use that criteria for any other purchases I might make in the future. Certainly they cannot all be as spacey as these clowns were. I’ll keep you posted.

Sad story indeed!!

Woman swept to sea during proposal on Oregon coast

December 4, 2008 06:43 PM EST | AP

NESKOWIN, Ore. — A romantic marriage proposal on the Oregon coast turned deadly for the bride-to-be when a wave swept her out to sea. Scott Napper had taken 22-year-old Leafil Alforque to Proposal Rock near Neskowin Beach to pop the question at a place that got its name from couples ready to marry. Napper and Alforque had been dating since they met on the Internet in 2005.

But Alforque had arrived in Oregon on a visa from the Philippines just three days before the fateful trip to the coast.

Napper said the tide had receded around Proposal Rock on Saturday when the couple began to walk to it. He planned to propose and give her the ring he carried in his pocket.

About 10 feet from the rock, a wave about 3 feet high suddenly came toward them.

“I turned into it to keep from getting pulled under it,” Napper said.

By the time he turned to find Alforque, only 4-foot-11 and 93 pounds, she had been caught by the receding waters.

“She was about 30 feet away, getting swept away,” Napper said.
Story continues below

The 45-year-old Silverton man tore off his jacket to get rid of any extra weight, and when he looked up again she was gone.

“That’s the last I saw of her,” he said in an interview Wednesday, breaking into tears.

Emergency personnel called by a someone on the beach arrived within minutes. His own phone no longer worked after being exposed to the water.

Along with rescuers, he searched for any sign of Alforque.

“I yelled for her,” he said. “I was praying to God.”

At one point, he saw someone wearing red _ the color of her jacket _ on the shore signaling for him. But he quickly realized it was a rescuer.

Thick fog and dangerous water conditions hampered the rescue efforts before the search was suspended on Monday.

Her 25-year-old sister, Nova Alforque, said the family hopes the body can be recovered.

“My mother is always crying, day and night,” Nova Alforque said by telephone from the Philippines. “She wants my sister back. Even if she is dead, she wants her body to bury.”

The Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office is routinely checking the beach and looking for possible witnesses, said Sheriff Todd Anderson.

Police don’t suspect foul play, he said.

sad reality

It seems that in the world of marketing and it’s subsidiaries, PR, direct mail etc. there is an ignorance to being spot on or effective. It seems to be all about making money, just making money, just making money. It is giving a black eye to our business as a whole.

My post for today is dealing with this inadequacy and what I think should be done about it.

 I receive all the junk mail in the world, I receive free magazine subscriptions and all things dealing with car stuff, smog checks, aluminum siding sales, etc. However I am not the only recipient of these JUNK mails. I also receive this mail for my children, stepchildren, fake named children and the list never ends.

How do these names get on the sender’s list I ponder?
 
 There are the insidious list sellers out there. They will sell any list, no matter how old and outdated it might be. I have not seen my stepdaughter Danielle (Dani) in better than five years and she has not lived with me in well over thirteen years. I receive mail to this person on a regular basis. Now mind you, I had moved and changed my mailing address for ME and no-one else. No matter that this girl was a minor at the time she filled out the forms, joined the club or wherever else she wrote her address for some company wonk. No matter that her last name is entirely different from mine. 
 
 After all the time that has passed they are still selling that false list to unsuspecting and trusting customers. This is a direct slap in the face to those who buy these lists and I personally feel it is one of the worst things about the business. If they insist on being in the business the least they could do is become more efficient and effective.

 Back to the name thing. I have over the last twenty years filled out forms for different contests or other ilk. These companies have been sold or have been absorbed by other companies. I know this is where the majority of these faux pas lie. One large contributor which surprises me is Reader’s Digest. They send me, on a bi-yearly basis promotional info for my ex-wife, a woman I haven’t lived with since 1986.

I get other materials from other promo groups and the address wording is such that I can tell they are using the same list.
 
Yes she subscribed to Reader’s Digest and I thought she had taken the subscription with her. Perhaps she quit reading it and they are trying vigorously to get her back. I would suppose that whoever is in charge of their marketing would do a little research and realize the costs of mailing to ghosts of people from their distant past. They might even have time to look up her new address!!

At any rate I receive these things and I am certain I am not alone here.

DIRECT MARKETERS………………….WAKE UP!!!!! Quit selling useless lists to your customers, make a name for yourselves as honest marketers not this silly thing that it has become. If you clean up your act perhaps we can get the PR guys to quit “spinning” and the ad guys to lighten up on the pissing people off so they remember their client better. There are many things wrong but with a bit of effort we can begin to make the whole thing respectable once again.

I have bitched enough but could go on for hours.
This is really a pock on the entire advertising community.

cheers,
 Moi-mon